Light projecting unit for converting an automatic pistol for practice firing



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United States Patent O LIGHT PROJECTING UNIT FOR CONVERTING AN AUTOMATIC PISTOL FOR PRACTICE FIRING Arthur H. Koskey, Anchorage, Alaska Application October 18, 1957, Serial No. 691,004 3 Claims. (Cl. 24U-6.41)

rIlhe present invention relates to a device for projecting a spot of light upon a target.

An object of the present invention is to provide a light projecting device which lends itself to incorporation in an automatic type of hand-held firearm.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a light projecting device which enables a user thereof to practice shooting a firearm Without the expenditure of ammunition, enabling such user to obtain dexterity and skill in the aiming of sudh firearm.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a light projecting device which is readily attached to and detached from a firearm of the automatic type without damaging or altering such firearm.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be fully apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the annexed drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of an automatic firearm with the device of the present invention installed therein and indicated in dotted lines;

Figure 2 is a view partially in section of the device of the present invention, removed from the firearm shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an elevational view taken on the of Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a partial view in section taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 2.

Referring in greater detail to the drawing in which like numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views, an automatic is shown in Figure 1 and designated by the reference numeral 10. 'Dhe automatic 10 includes a slide 12 and a hand grip or handle portion 14 projecting from the portion of the frame 15 adjacent one end. A trigger 16 is arranged forwardly of and exteriorly of the hand grip or handle portion 14 and has a rearwardly extending trigger bar 17. The trigger bar is slidably disposed in the handle portion or hand grip and is adapted to be connected to the hammer of the automatic.

The above described automatic is of conventional construction and includes a removable barrel within the slide 12. 'Dhe present invention provides an auxiliary barrel 20 which is of a size to tit within the slide 12 when the conventional barrel has been removed and to be mounted on the frame and handle portion in the same way as the conventional barrel is mounted. The automatic also includes a magazine chamber within the hand grip 14 into which is insertable a magazine or clip carrying the cartridges to be fired through the barrel. The present invention provides an auxiliary magazine member 22, which is of a shape and size substantially equivalent to the shape and size ofthe chamber and is insertable into and withdrawable from the magazine chamber in the hand grip 14, such auxiliary magazine being shown in Figure 2 and designated by the reference numeral 22.

The auxiliary barrel 20 has a cap 24 closing Ithe end of 'the barrel 20 remote from the magazine 22. The cap 24 is provided with a sight opening 26. An incandescent line 3-3 ice lamp bulb 28 having a base contact 30 and a shell contact 32 -is positioned Within the auxiliary barrel 20 so that the bulb 28 is rearwardly of and faces toward the sight opening 26 with the base contact 30 remote from the sight opening 26. The auxiliary barrel 20 is fabricated of an insulating material such as plastic or the like and the shell contact 32 is supported in a socket member 34, of electrically conductive material, in circuit with a band 36 which surrounds the adjacent portion of the auxiliary barrel 20 and has a depending portion 38 grounded to the frame of the automatic 10 when the auxiliary barrel 20 is positioned within the slide 12 of the automatic 10.

A fixed contact member or element 40 extends from the auxiliary barrel 20 to the interior of the magazine chamber within the hand grip 14 and has one end in contact with the base contact 30 and supported in an insulation member 42 which is rearwardly of the socket member 34, the other end of the contact member 40 bearing against a subsidiary contact member or conductive element 40 mounted on the upper end of the auxiliary magazine 22 and, with the contact member 40, providing a fixed contact extending from the barrel 20 to the hand grip 14.

A pair of flashlight batteries, of the pen type, designated by the reference numeral 44 and constituting a source of electric current, are supported within a recess or cavity provided in the auxiliary magazine member 22 and have their shell terminals connected by a grounding member 46 to the frame of the automatic 10 when the auxiliary magazine 22 is in position within the hand grip 14. The center terminals of the batteries 44 are connected by a bar or first conductive element 48 extending around the magazine 22 in a groove provided for the same and terminating in a movable contact member 50 supported on the magazine 22 when the latter is within the hand grip 14, such movable contact member 50 facing toward the terminating or contact end of the subsidiary contact member or first conductive element 40. The movable contact member 50 is resilient and is normally biased outwardly into contact with the fixed contact member or conductive element 40. A part of the movable contact member 50 is covered with an insulation element 52 electrically isolating the same from a tab 54 carried on the rearward end of the trigger bar 17 within the hand grip 14 vand of conventional construction, the trigger bar 17 and tab 54 being shown in dotted lines in Figure 2. Of conventional construction is a spring means embodying a leaf spring 56 operatively connected to the trigger bar and biasing the latter and the trigger for movement away from the hand grip 14, this leaf spring 56 being shown schematically in Figure 2 and in dotted lines. The actual construction of the leaf spring 5.6 is not important to the present invention as it is a part of the operating mechanism of the automatic 10 and is employed in the present instance to bias the movable contact member 50 out of electrical contact with the adjacent portion of the contact end of the conductive element 40. The tab 54 constitutes means carried by the trigger 16 'engageable with the movable contact member 50 when the trigger 16 is in the position away from the stand grip to hold the movable contact member 5 0 in the out of engagement position relative to the fixed contact member 40', this means being releasable from the movable contact member upon execution of movement of the trigger 16 toward the hand grip 14 to permit the end of the movable contact member to contact electrically with the adjacent end of the fixed contact member 40.

In use, the automatic 10 is dismantled to the extent necessary to expose the interior of the slide 12 for removal of the conventional barrel and permit the insertion therein of the auxiliary barrel 20. The conventional magazine is removed from the chamber within the hand grip 14 and the auxiliary magazine member 22 inserted therein. Upon squeezing of the trigger 16 in a manner which normally would lire the automatic if bullets were within the barrel and fed thereinto from the magazine, the lament of the bulb 28 is energized and a beam of light is emitted through the sight opening 26. This enables the user thereof to practice target shooting with his rearm in the usual manner without the expenditure of ammunition. The user of the automatic when employing the device of the present invention accustoms himself to the feel of the weight of the gun and may rapidly and eliciciently convert the firearm from the normal cartridge ring condition to the light emitting condition without in any way damaging or changing the mechanism of the rearm.

While only a single embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, other embodiments are contemplated and numerous changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. For use with an automatic pistol having a handle portion and frame adapted to support a barrel and the handle portion being provided with a chamber adapted to receive a removable clip and the pistol having a trigger mechanism including a trigger and a trigger bar extending rearwardly from the trigger into the handle portion and adapted to be operatively connected to a hammer of the pistol; a light projecting unit for converting said pistol for practice firing, said unit comprising a member of a shape and size substantially equivalent to the shape and size of the chamber and removably fitted in the chamber, said member having a top wall and a rear wall and having a cavity formed therein to releasably receive a dry cell battery assembly, and the member having a grounding means extending from the cavity for contact with the battery assembly to ground the battery assembly to the frame, a first conductive element extending from the cavity and carried by the member, said first conductive element having a contact end disposed at the rear wall and being normally urged outwardly from the rear wall, a second conductive element carried by the member and having a contact end overlying the contact end of the first conductive element/means cooperatively provided between the trigger bar and the first conductive element for retaining the said contact end of the first conductive element out of engagement vwith the contact end of the second conductive element when the trigger is in its normal forward position and said means releasing the contact end of the iirst conductive element :for automatic rearward movement into engagement with the contact end of the second conductive element when the trigger is pulled and the trigger bar is moved rearwardly, said second conductive element overlying the top wall of the member, a barrel mounted on the frame and handle portion, an illumination means mounted in the barrel and including a bulb having a Contact element extending into the top of the chamber and engaged with the second conductive element and an imperforate member tted in the barrel forwardly of the bulb and formed with a center opening to expose the illuminating rays from the bulb when the said contacts of the conductive elements are in engagement.

2. A light projecting unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means includes a lateral tab on the rearward end of the trigger bar disposed in confronting relation to the rear wall of the member and an insulation element carried by the rst conductive element and interposed between the tab and the rear wall of the member and engaged by the tab.

' 3. A light projecting unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein said barrel is formed from insulating material and has a front and rear end and said bulb is lixedly mounted in the barrel adjacent the rear end and said imperforate member includes a cap closing ot the front end of the barrel.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,096,726 Knopf May 12, 1914 1,160,518 Lyhne Nov. 16, 1915 1,645,881 Strong Oct. 18, 1927 2,588,036 OQuinn Mar. 4, 1952 2,734,311 Christopher Feb. 14, 1956 

